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 Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:14 am
Hello there, I've been making teddy bears ect for just a few months now and am always looking for bits of advice about it. I made a clown elephant based on a pattern by a german lady who goes by 'noble640' on Ebay. I shrunk the pattern down, modified the gusset, arms, legs and ears.  He's about 8inches/20cm tall (when standing and not including hat) and is made from blue and white plush fabric. He's been weighted with little pebbles to a nice weight and is stuffed with your standard, squashy pillow-filling. He's five-way cotter-pin jointed, so his arms, legs and head all move. His clown hat is made from felt and he is 100% hand sewn.
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Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 4:56 pm
He is adorable!
A suggestion for you - if you use a blunt needle (like a cross stitch needle) and gently pull the 'caught' fur out of the stitching on the seams, it will make it look smoother, and finishes up any stuffed animals or teddy bears really nicely, making the seams almost invisible.
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:05 am
Emm-Kaye He is adorable! A suggestion for you - if you use a blunt needle (like a cross stitch needle) and gently pull the 'caught' fur out of the stitching on the seams, it will make it look smoother, and finishes up any stuffed animals or teddy bears really nicely, making the seams almost invisible. I'll definitely try that, he could do with a bit of smartening up. I wondered if the fur was too long for him, but I'm really not sure...it was short on the bigger elephants, but scaled down it looks a bit longer than I intended.
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:53 pm
Animals_hate_me Emm-Kaye He is adorable! A suggestion for you - if you use a blunt needle (like a cross stitch needle) and gently pull the 'caught' fur out of the stitching on the seams, it will make it look smoother, and finishes up any stuffed animals or teddy bears really nicely, making the seams almost invisible. I'll definitely try that, he could do with a bit of smartening up. I wondered if the fur was too long for him, but I'm really not sure...it was short on the bigger elephants, but scaled down it looks a bit longer than I intended. It's not too long, he's just a bit fuzzy... wink If you have a small comb, or soft brush, you could try brushing him just a bit to smooth him out - once he's 'well groomed' I think you will see that he is darling just the way he is!
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:01 pm
Emm-Kaye Animals_hate_me Emm-Kaye He is adorable! A suggestion for you - if you use a blunt needle (like a cross stitch needle) and gently pull the 'caught' fur out of the stitching on the seams, it will make it look smoother, and finishes up any stuffed animals or teddy bears really nicely, making the seams almost invisible. I'll definitely try that, he could do with a bit of smartening up. I wondered if the fur was too long for him, but I'm really not sure...it was short on the bigger elephants, but scaled down it looks a bit longer than I intended. It's not too long, he's just a bit fuzzy... wink If you have a small comb, or soft brush, you could try brushing him just a bit to smooth him out - once he's 'well groomed' I think you will see that he is darling just the way he is! I'll dig out a comb and take some new photos of him. I wish for some things he had shiny eyes, but the ones I had were the wrong size so they had to be done in thread....if I make more elephants based on the same pattern I'll definitely put photos up also. Right now I'm collecting up materials for some Halloween bears that will be about 5 and a half inches tall...if they turn out well enough, I might even put them on Ebay...but I'd like to seek advice here first, so I might put photos of them up when they're all done.
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:20 pm
Animals_hate_me I'll dig out a comb and take some new photos of him. I wish for some things he had shiny eyes, but the ones I had were the wrong size so they had to be done in thread....if I make more elephants based on the same pattern I'll definitely put photos up also. Right now I'm collecting up materials for some Halloween bears that will be about 5 and a half inches tall...if they turn out well enough, I might even put them on Ebay...but I'd like to seek advice here first, so I might put photos of them up when they're all done. I have some stuffed animal eyes that I bought a long time ago. I know you can get different sizes / kinds, from just plain 'button' eyes, to different sizes of 'realistic' looking ones - I have some brown and some blue iris, with a black pupil. There are also cat's eyes you can buy (with the slit pupil). Don't know how expensive they are now, but I do know you can get them. I got them the same time I got the joints - my teddy bears had the five-point joints as well (both arms, both legs, and neck moved). Would the Halloween bears be jointed? That's tiny for putting in joints...but it is possible.
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 2:55 pm
Emm-Kaye I have some stuffed animal eyes that I bought a long time ago. I know you can get different sizes / kinds, from just plain 'button' eyes, to different sizes of 'realistic' looking ones - I have some brown and some blue iris, with a black pupil. There are also cat's eyes you can buy (with the slit pupil). Don't know how expensive they are now, but I do know you can get them. I got them the same time I got the joints - my teddy bears had the five-point joints as well (both arms, both legs, and neck moved). Would the Halloween bears be jointed? That's tiny for putting in joints...but it is possible. The joints they take are about 1cm in diametre, so it's going to be tricky....I've never made anything so small, so it could go either way, really. They're just the basic cotter-pin joints with the metal pins and discs, and I've used those a lot, so I should be able to cope. (I hope) As for the eyes, they're pretty pricy if they're glass. I bought a set of ten german glass eyes for about £3.50 though, but the prices vary so much. The eyes for the bears are 6mm, by the way, so they're tiny weeny....small is going to be hard. I was thinking of making a Halloween cat, so cat eyes would be perfect, I hope they make them that tiny. I have some artist bears that I bought from various people, one of them has antique boot button eyes...it gives him a nice but disengaged kind of look versus his glass-eyed friends....although I wouldn't even know where to start looking for antique boot buttons.... What were your bears like? If you don't mind me asking redface
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:31 pm
Animals_hate_me What were your bears like? If you don't mind me asking redface Not at all...I have made several bears. It would be really nice if I had pictures I could post of them, but, sadly, I don't. I once bought a kit, that included pattern, fabric, stuffing, joints, eyes, etc... -pretty much everything needed to make the smallest of the 3 sizes of bears in the pattern. It turned out really cute, and I still have my first ever bear (with all the mistakes and 'learning' problems, like having put on the ears wrong, but not noticing until it was complete). The other bears I have made were based, somewhat, on the same pattern, but with quite a few design changes. I made about 4-5 to show / sell, and the rest were commissioned by people - I let them pick the fur color they wanted, and then made the bears for them. My favorite was the purple semi-long furred one - bought by a dad for his son. He wanted it to have a mohawk hairstyle, so I 'styled' the bear's hair into a mohawk, but told the dad that I refused to cut it permanently into that style, because it would actually make the bear look terrible with really short hair on it's head. Once the son saw (and fell in love with) the bear, the dad agreed!
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Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 4:46 pm
Animals_hate_me Emm-Kaye Would the Halloween bears be jointed? That's tiny for putting in joints...but it is possible. The joints they take are about 1cm in diametre, so it's going to be tricky....I've never made anything so small, so it could go either way, really. They're just the basic cotter-pin joints with the metal pins and discs, and I've used those a lot, so I should be able to cope. (I hope) ....although I wouldn't even know where to start looking for antique boot buttons.... That IS tiny. I used nylon joints, so that my bears would be considered 'child safe' here in the US, otherwise, I would not have been able to sell them as toys. I could have used different joints, and called them "collectables" (and charged much more for each bear, but it would have been a lot less fun for kids). I would think online would be your best bet for finding a supplier of antique boot buttons...
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:07 am
Emm-Kaye That IS tiny. I used nylon joints, so that my bears would be considered 'child safe' here in the US, otherwise, I would not have been able to sell them as toys. I could have used different joints, and called them "collectables" (and charged much more for each bear, but it would have been a lot less fun for kids). I would think online would be your best bet for finding a supplier of antique boot buttons... Sorry for not being about for so long, I got caught up in gathering supplies and actually making a bear. I made a mohair one, 5 and a half inches tall. He's not suitable for children and I'm aiming to make artist bears rather than the cuddly sort, since those are the ones that inspired me in the beggining. The mohair bear I made isn't very good, but I'm working on an even smaller pattern right now because he seemed....big. I also found some boot buttons, but no one said how big they actually were gonk
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Posted: Sat Oct 08, 2011 5:23 am
Animals_hate_me Emm-Kaye That IS tiny. I used nylon joints, so that my bears would be considered 'child safe' here in the US, otherwise, I would not have been able to sell them as toys. I could have used different joints, and called them "collectables" (and charged much more for each bear, but it would have been a lot less fun for kids). I would think online would be your best bet for finding a supplier of antique boot buttons... Sorry for not being about for so long, I got caught up in gathering supplies and actually making a bear. I made a mohair one, 5 and a half inches tall. He's not suitable for children and I'm aiming to make artist bears rather than the cuddly sort, since those are the ones that inspired me in the beggining. The mohair bear I made isn't very good, but I'm working on an even smaller pattern right now because he seemed....big. I also found some boot buttons, but no one said how big they actually were gonk I do know that I've seen some child's boot buttons that were pretty small - my grandmother had some that her mother had saved... they were also (yellowed) white, rather than black or brown. You might consider buttons as well - some buttons (both old, and new) would be very suitable for artisan bear eyes. In fact, my mother had some doll clothes buttons that were tiny!
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Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:59 pm
I have never sewn a stuffed animal that pretty. Good job!
I'd say the length of the hair is fine the way it is.
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Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:52 pm
Ooo, I think he's adorable! I love that elephant!
I don't really have any suggestions, he looks wonderful to me. Just what Emm said, polish him off a little. Also, I know this is all personal preference and such, but I sort of like the sewn on eyes. He looks, you know, really retro, and so I'd stick with the simple ones. It just kinda fits for me.
But it's all up to you, I think he'll look brilliant no matter which eyes you use. : )
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